Dark Portal III: The Kingdom
The Kingdom is the third chapter of the overarching storyline of Dark Portal, which takes place in the Jinok Alternate Universe. It was originally written in 2009 and has since been translated to English. Mata Nui Gesikk woke up first. They all looked different again, he noted. Except him everyone still laid unconscious on the floor. Where they landed everything looked a lot like Metru Nui. But this city was much bigger, and besides, there was real sky above their heads. Little by little the other Toa got up, looked around and looked at Gesikk. "We're still not there, are we?" Viro asked. "Apparently not." Answered Gesikk. They ran into a village and discovered something amazing: everyone worked together. Bohrok, Visorak, Vortixx, Matoran and even dark hunters. At a corner of a house stood a bored Toa Mahri. Dephiza, who recognized him, went to him and greeted him: "Hello Nuparu! Finally we met again!" "You?" he asked, "I expected a different welcome after our last fight. And besides, did not you die on this one mission?" Nuparu asked. "Oh no. Totally wrong world." Dephiza said to Gesikk and the others. "That's funny. You, Onurem, Vastara and Devon. You are actually already dead. You're probably some sort of time travelers. Someone like you was already here, a so-called "Toa Takanuva". But I could like also guide you to Turaga Takanuva, who's an expert on this." said Nuparu. "That would be nice." said Skorpi. After a long journey through different villages, they finally arrived at the Colosseum, where Nuparu said goodbye to the others. When Skorpi asked why, he only replied that the Toa Mahri were very unpopular with the new Toa and Matoran after the death of Mata Nui. Without Skorpi being able to say anything Nuparu disappeared into the crowds. Now the Toa and Gesikk went up the stairs to the headquarters of Turaga Takanuva. That one was currently sitting in a chair and talked to Toa Tanma. When they came in he looked in astonishment and said "Oh? Are you time travelers, too?" "Yes." Gesikk replied. "It's us. And we want to go back to our time. All we need is directions to the Dark Portal." "The Dark Portal, that's what you call it." Toa Tanma said. "We just talked about the appearance of a mysterious shadow gate." "Yes, that's right. We could help you. But we also want something in return. A large group of renegade dark hunters have gathered in the west. Since you are 8 Toa, you will probably manage to destroy them on your own. Good luck, Toa!" said Takanuva. Attack! "Like what??? You just ask us to go, defeat the dark hunters and come back???" Viro asked. "Hmm. You are eight, but I think you still have to rest. Tomorrow morning I will send Toa Tanma and Toa Bima, they will support you in the fight. Those few hunters, and you think you can't do it?" asked the Turaga. "Sure. But let's go now." Viro said. But then something happened that probably nobody had expected: The door flew open and a dark hunter stormed in. He threw his saw in the room, hit Devon who cried out loud. Skorpi acted quickly and pulled the saw out of Devon's back. The hunter was now disarmed, but he shouted: "NOBODY BEATS VASTRUX!!!" and he summoned a gigantic fireball in his hand. Devon, a Toa of Fire, now tried to stop this ball, but the force of the ball knocked him over and he was just rolled over. Now Tanma, who had been holding himself in the background, jumped on Vastrux, holding him to the ground and shouting to Viro: "Quick! Get together with the Toa of Water! Give as much ice and water to it as you can!" Viro and Dephiza did not hesitate for long, they concentrated their elemental forces and could dissolve the fireball to hot air. Skorpi had come with Garrzo to Toa Tanma's rescue. But he had a strong, mechanical hand and was able to fling all three against the wall, where they remained unconscious. Gesikk, Onurem, Vastara, Viro and Dephiza were the only ones who could do anything. Dephiza sent a lightning-water mixture to the hunter, Onurem let stones fly at him, Vastara created a tree out of nothing that bound him and Viro froze him. Finally he was stabbed to death by Gesikk. The forces dissolved, leaving a dead Vastrux in a puddle of water that slowly mixed with his blood. It had been a red hunter who had probably lost his arm once. Because now a technical arm was connected where it had been. His head, however, resembled a Rahi, for his eyes were at his side. "If we do the same with the hunter group, we're dead," Skorpi said. "We need a different tactic. I suggest we sneak up and do it slowly." said Garrzo. "Or," Viro said, "we become hunters ourselves." Murder! When all other Toa were asleep, Vastara was still awake. Suddenly she heard a muffled cry, but it quickly faded away. She was startled and got out of bed. She put on her armor again and took her sword. Now she walked a little anxiously through the door into the dark, empty corridor. There were many doors, so she woke Viro, Gesikk and Skorpi. As they walked through the fourth door, they saw the terrible: Turaga Takanuva lay dead and stabbed on the ground, around him was a pool of blood. But otherwise nothing could be seen. No open doors, no open windows. "Who was that?" asked Vastara. "You!" called a voice from behind. All three Toa and Gesikk turned around, and saw five Toa standing in the door, and one of them had a light in his hand. "But ... why me?" Vastara asked again. "Quite simple," explained one, "We saw a bright green figure running into the room here. With a sword and two wrist blades. And you have your weapons and armor on, and besides, there's blood on your sword." Vastara noticed that her sword was red at the top. The blood ran down the blade to her hand. Disgusted, she threw it away." And because of this murder, you will now join us on your way to the cells." another Toa said, grinning and handcuffing Vastara. She tried to fight back, but was unsuccessful. The only thing she did was a scratch on Toa's Kanohi, which caused her to receive a punch in the face in return. The five Toa led her away, and it was quiet again in the room. "What do you think? Was she the one?" Gesikk asked. "Quite likely. After all, she had blood on her blade, dressed in her entire combat gear, and she was the one who woke us. I think she's guilty." Viro said. Skorpi said nothing, he just said that nobody knows for sure now. "Ah, yes." called one of the Toa who had come back, "Tomorrow is the trial to se how we will continue!" The truth Everyone left the room, only Gesikk still stood there. He knew something was wrong here. He looked again at the corpse, and saw something astonishing: when he lifted his Kanohi, it had the face of a Matoran. Gesikk now knew what was going on. This fortress was either against the newcomers, or this fortress was itself controlled by evil. He heard soft footsteps coming down the corridor, so he got up quickly and hid behind a cupboard. A pale green Toa had come into the room, looking at the "Turaga". Then he jerked up his Midak Skyblaster and let the cabinet become firewood. Gesikk looked startled, but the Toa remained calm. He came to him and held his gun to Gesikk's throat. He asked, "Who are you? Also one of the hunters?" "No!" Gesikk exclaimed, "I am no hunter! For you I'm kind of like a Toa. I also noticed this deception." "Aha. Good." said the green one and lowered his weapon, "So you have seen through it. By the way, I'm Toa Vitraz, not one of those traitors. You may already have noticed. This kingdom is controlled by the hunters. Years ago, they killed Turaga Takanuva. A small hunter named Vezran used his armor. If you ever want to get out of here alive, you have to leave now." "And what about the portal? Me and the others must go there immediately!" "You don't need to. We have something better. A Kanohi Olmak. It may be a bit damaged, but it should work." explained Vitraz. "And what's the catch?" Asked Gesikk. "The catch is that this Olmak is in the archives. There are all sorts of guards, and you getting there will be very difficult." replied the Toa. "Then we have to follow Viro's plan. We become hunters ourselves." said Gesikk. Union Gesikk and the other 9 Toa had all gotten some armor that made them look like a small group of dark hunters. But even now Gesikk doubted that it would work. "We are too few Toa." he said. "Too few?! We're 10 people here, and you say we're TOO FEW?!" Viro asked as he began to doubt Gesikk's sanity. "Did not you notice when we fought the ONE dark hunter? He almost defeated us!" Gesikk exclaimed. "If you want to ally with someone who is not yet controlled by the Dark Hunters, I have two suggestions: Toa Jadek and Toa Matoro." Bima said. "Sure ..." Gesikk wanted to say, but Tanma interrupted, shouting: "Matoro? That loser? He's just sitting around somewhere grumbling!" "Tanma!" Bima shouted harshly. "We need everyone here, and the two are the only ones." So they went to look for the two, Tanma still not agreeing with the plan. Jadek was easy to find because he was helping a couple of Po Matoran build a statue. When they were finished he went to the group. "Bima? Are you posing as a dark hunters now?" he asked. "We have to walk around like this so no one recognizes us. But I have to tell you something else, because this city will soon go down. Because the hunters control everything here, even if you do not see it. We intend to flee with the Olmak from here." Bima told him. "Take Nagaari with you! He is new here, but he is very strong and knows something about combat." said Jadek. Jadek turned without waiting for an answer and called for him. After a few seconds Nagaari stood beside him, and when he saw Gesikk, his eyes darkened. Gesikk saw this and wondered one thing: why does he know even in this place of what I did? A sudden tremor brought him back from his thoughts. A gigantic Rahi had emerged from the ground. Every Toa immediately drew their weapons except Gesikk. He also suddenly felt a new force that wanted to be used. He used it, and noticed astonished: he could lift the Rahi with his bare hands! The other Toa acted immediately, firing their elemental powers at the Rahi. It was almost done, but then Onurem striked out and hit Gesikk on the back of the head, causing him to lose control and let the monster fall to the ground again. But no one noticed, because everyone was too busy. Not even Gesikk could say who it was since Onurem activated his Volitak and was no longer visible. But then an ice blast came from a nearby building that hit and froze the Rahi. From the roof Toa Mahri Matoro jumped down. Not seen for thousands of years, they were the first to see him again. "Quick!" he shouted. "We have to go to the Olmak! Through the archives The team had already come through the gate of the archives and the guards had not noticed. They now ran along the tunnels, led by Toa Mahri Matoro. The first part of the journey went well, but at another hallway to the Kanohi masks stood three hunters. Matoro knew them all. Cratax, Lydrix and Avohky. They would be hard to get past. But it came differently than expected. Lydrix studied them, then spoke softly to the others and opened the door. The group went inside. But before anyone could act, they closed the door again. "We should have known that!" shouted Garrzo. "Your plan was not the best, Viro." Skorpi said. "What else should we have done? Run towards them and then lose at least half of our guys?" Viro countered. "Stop arguing!" Gesikk interrupted them, "We have the Olmak here! We can get out of here!" "Um... I guess we have a problem." Garrzo said, pointing to a glass case. There was a Kanohi Olmak in it, but it was broken at the middle. "Oh no!" Gesikk exclaimed loudly. The group sat down on the stones in the archives and started thinking. Viro sat down next to Dephiza. He said: "Dephiza, I have something to tell you. I... well..." "I know, Viro. Do you not think that I did not notice? "She replied. "You run next to me all day. You usually only talk to me. I know, I love..." "No time for declarations of love! The hunters are coming through! And they brought some new guests!" Matoro exclaimed. Cratax, Lydrix and Avohky had brought back the two hunters Vavyrak and Kradask. Viro greeted them with a volley of light spheres, but they were very skilled and could dodge, and Lydrix could even repel one. It met Viro, and surprisingly he was blown away. Because the portal had almost completely made him a shadow being. Matoro froze Avohky and before he could destroy the ice, Garrzo used hisweaponand cut through in half. Four hunters left. Vitraz now let a tree grow out of the ground that bound Cratax. Jadek loaded his weapons and laser-riddled the tree, but strangely, Cratax was already gone. Jadek turned around and was immediately knocked unconscious by him. Bima flunged lighting together with Dephiza on Kradask, but he absorbed them with his weapons and threw them back. Gesikk in the meantime, fought against Vavyrak. His laser bullets made it very difficult. But then Nagaari jumped from behind and hooked his hook behind Vavyrak's head. He turned once and his head fell to the ground. Three more hunters. Devon, Skorpi, Tanma and Onurem battled Lydrix. Devon was very weakened by the attack from Vastrux, so he did not pay attention. Lydrix turned him to dust with his jackhammer. Onurem saw his chance to kill the Toa. How long he had been waiting. He shot a sphere at Skorpi who was thrown to the side and lay motionless on the ground. Onurem now lifted the blade of his Skyblaster, piercing the Toa of Light, Toa Tanma. He looked at Onurem wide-eyed, then fell lifeless to the ground. But Onurem was to suffer the same fate as his brother Devon, because now he was turned to dust by Lydrix. Dephiza got up wearily, throwing her electric sword at Cratax. The death came immediately. Two more hunters. Viro and Gesikk together with Nagaari attacked Kradask. Nagaari tore off his armor and Viro created an ice crystal. Gesikk only had to distract him a bit. Everything could have been so happy. Viro looked at Dephiza, she got up, ran to him and crumbled to dust. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Screamed Viro in horror. He shot the crystal on the responsible hunter, and when he parried, he shredded him in cold blood. One hunter left. Gesikk looked at Viro and had to witness how Dephiza died. He gathered all his elemental power and fired it at the last hunter. His black outline would be burned into the wall for all eternity. Viro's mask was filled with tears. He knelt down, picked up the dust and let it trickle down to the ground again. Gesikk went to him, he knew how painful it was for him. Inevitably he thought of Vastara. Vastara! She was in court! "Vastara!" He shouted loudly. "We have to get her!" The next Journey The Toa stormed down the empty corridor, Gesikk in the lead. Jadek had told him the way. Garrzo carried the dead Tanma, and Bima had created a container and picked up all the ashes. They were still running. Suddenly Gesikk stopped, and a few of his companions ran into him. They got up again. Viro asked: "Why are you stopping? Say something!" "Take a breath." Gesikk said in a cool tone, "There are guards over there. I wanted to neutralize them right here. But you had to stumble into me." Before Viro could reply, Gesikk had recharged his elemental power and struck down the guards. Now they continued. After half an hour, they finally arrived at the court room. Gesikk yanked open the door and stopped in shock. He saw two things: Firstly, Vastara was flogged, secondly, the dark portal was at the ceiling of the room. Everyone in the hall paused as the group stood in the doorway. Then they drew their weapons and jumped towards them. The Toa also drew their swords and attacked. Gesikk freed Vastara, but had to avoid the whip of the one being. He pierced it and lifted Vastara over his shoulder. "I have an idea!" it shouted somewhere out of the hall. "We have to gather in one place! Everyone knew the voice and everyone followed the plan. Now they stood surrounded in a corner of the room. One of the beings said: "This is your plan? To lure yourselves into a trap?" "That's the plan!" Virtraz shouted and activated his Miru. All of his team now flew up, right into the portal. One of the henchmen jumped up and caught Jadek by the leg. But the portal closed, and the hunter lost his hand, which was now sent to another world. He fell to the ground. The Toa were gone. The room remained as a battlefield. They traveled through the portal for the third time. The pain from the shadows was not as bad as the first and second time because the Toa had gotten used to it. The portal opened and they fell out. But once more they did not land at their aimed destination, but in Traitor. Characters The Travelers *Gesikk *Toa Viro *Toa Dephiza *Toa Garrzo *Toa Vastara *Toa Onurem *Toa Devon Citizens of The Kingdom *Turaga Takanuva *Toa Bima *Toa Tanma *Toa Vitraz *Toa Jadek *Toa Matoro *Nagaari Dark Hunters *Vastrux *Vezran *Cratax *Lydrix *Avohky *Vavyrak *Kradask *A Dark Hunter using a whip *Several unnamed Dark Hunters